N- Between 1987 and 1993, Capcom created six Mega Man games for the NES. All of them ran on the same basic game engine with the same basic graphic style and the same limited NES sound system. And now, here we are, 15 years later, with another Mega Man done in that exact same 8-bit style. One might question whether or not this was really necessary.

And yet, that's precisely what's most impressive about it. Mega Man 9 so authentically recreates the 8-bit era that we might almost believe that it's been sealed in a time capsule for the last decade-and-a-half. Its only giveaways are a few modern design conventions that the developers managed to sneak in, such as the save system, downloadable content, and a few cutscenes.

There may be a few younger gamers who don't "get it," but I think most players, particularly those who remember the era, will be in on the joke. Little quirks, like sprite flickering and awkward text flow, were circumstantial back then, but this time they're intentional. It's essentially the video game equivalent of a period piece.

At the end of the day, however, it's yet another 8-bit Mega Man game, and it shares its predecessor's pros and cons. Luckily, the pros include having the feel of a timeless classic, which, in my opinion, outweighs the cons of being derivative and unoriginal. I certainly enjoyed Mega Man 9 as much as any 8-bit Mega Man game, which is to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Recommended.